Process of refining hydrocarbons



C. R. BURKE.

PROCESS OF REFINING HYDROQARBONS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. 1916.

' 1,389,934. PatentedSept. 6, 1921.

RECEIVER C 01V0WIER HOL 05K UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES RUSSELL BURKE, OF TULSA, OKLAHOMA, ASSIGNOR T0 LULU PETERS BURKE, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

Specification of Iletters Patent.

Patented Sept. 6, 1921.

Application filed April 11, 1916. Serial No. 90,509.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES RUSSELL BURKE, a citizen of the United States, whose residence is Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Refining-Hydrocarbons; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact. description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the same.

My invention consists in certain new and useful improvements in the art of refining, and for purposes of demonstration I have illustrated, and hereinafter described a process of refining hydrocarbon oils for the production of lighter hydrocarbons or for clarifying or purging the residual oil of carbon or dark coloring matter, as the operator may desire, which fully embodies my said invention.

The object of my invention is to provide a process whereby a substance, such for example as hydrocarbon oil, is both broken up bydistillation' into vapors of varying speh cific gravities, and the residual, if it be decided to leave any other than carbon or coke in the retort or still, will be so clarified or purged of carbon or dark coloring matter that, for example, what is known in the trade as dark cylinder stock may be a residual product of a color similar to a filtered cylinder stock, the other qualities of the residual, in such a case, resulting from the extent to which the application of heat and cooling to the hydrocarbons is carried on, as hereinafter more fully explained. As heretofore suggested, in my present application for patent, I have described my process as applied to the treatment of hydrocarbon oils, and have illustrated one form of apparatus by which my invention may be carried into efi'ect, although the same general form of apparatus may be used in the treatment of other substances.

In the drawings;

The figure is a diagrammatic view of a form of apparatus which I may employ.

Referring to the drawing, A is a retort or still of ordinary construction which may be formed of any suitable material and is pro, vided with a means B for heating the contents. C designates a holder or separatory tank having a contracted lower end opening into the still, as shown in the drawing.

This holder or tank is preferably of the same capacity or greater than the still A to permit a condensate, re resenting about fifty per cent. or more of the original contents of the still, to occupy the holder 0 at one time. The holder, while practically an addition to the still A, permits the vapors to rise therein from said still, as heat is applied thereto, and a portion thereof is condensed in said holder. At times there will be condensed 1n the holder the greater part of the vapors and this condensate will to the still through the contracted passage at the .lower endof the holder C. As the heat is continued to the contents of the still, a large amount of the condensed vapors will occupy and will be retarded in falling back into the still by the contracted neck at the lower end of the holder and the pressure of the vapors in the still. This condensed portion of the vapors, occupying theholder'C, being at times as great or greater apparently than from ten to fifty per cent. of the original ydrocarbons charged in the still, as before stated, the vapors arising from the still will pass through this condensate, while a portion of the condensed vapors will return to the still to be re-vaporized. This process being continued until the desired distillates and residual or both, are obtained by the operation.

D is a vapor pipe from the holder C and D is its connection to the condenser E. F is areceiver for the condensed vapors passing from D to D. G is a gas line for uncondensed vapors. may be used if desiredand practical, otherwise any other method or device may be employed to carry the uncondensed vapors to the holder I.

It will, of course, be understood that the injector H, while strong enough to draw vapors from the pipe connecting the condenser and receiver, will not have sufficient pov, er to draw the condensate up into the pipe G In carrying out my process by the aid of the above described apparatus, the material to be refined is placed in the still A, and subjected to the required degrees of heat when distillation will follow. The vapors will rise and enter the holder C from which such lighter vapors as desired will pass 01f through the pipes D, D to the condenser the lower portion of the holder C H is an injector which gradually return E, while the heavier vapors will condense and fill the lower portion of the holder C. This condensed vapor will return to the still A by gravity but owing to the contracted passage at the lower .end of the holder 0 and the pressure of the vaporsin the still, the condensed vapors will be retarded in their return to the still and the vapors arising from the still will intermingle and some pass through these condensed vapors. If it is desired to have a residual oil in the still, distillation is discontinued at the proper time and the residual thus obtained will be clear in color.

If the operator desired, he may distil practically all of the material originally charged a and leave merely the carbon or coke in the still and thus obtain a distillate of lighter gravity, or as before stated, he may retain a greater or smaller proportion of the material charged in the still by withdrawing the heat at the proper time and the residual left in {the still will be of lighter color, in the case of petroleum, than the oil charged.

In practice, as heretofore stated, it will be found that at times, there will be in the holder C apparently from ten to fifty per cent. or even greater percentage of the original charge of the still, in the form of condensed vapors, and that the space between the condensate and the oil in the still, will be filled with vapors, and that my process will be continuous as the heat is applied. The lighter vapors which do not condense in the holder will rise to the top ofthe same and pass off through the vapor line D and the condensed vapors in the holder C will return again and again to the still, as heretofore described, the condensed vapors being retarded by the contracted lower end of the holder and the rising vapors, and the operator may in the meantime, by suitable gage glasses watch the color of the oil in the holder, and by samples of the distillate obtained, as well as samples of the contents of the still A, determine when the result he desires has taken place.

The operator must decide upon the height of the vapor pipe D as that will have an effect upon the condensation of the rising hydrocarbon vapors obtained from said ipe. The amount of heat required and the probable duration of its application to produce a desired product or products may, and frequently will, vary with the character of the original material charged in the still and hence it is sometimes desirable and often important to determine the temperature to which the oil must be heated and the probable duration of same by a previous test of a small quantity of the original material charged in the still, thus predetermining the nature of the intended large operation.

It is within the scope of my invention to I aid the operation by the introduction of any dual oil withdrawn being of lighter Baum gravity.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The herein described process of refining hydrocarbons in a still operatively connected with a condenser, consisting in first distilling and cracking the oil inthe still at substantially atmospheric pressure by the application of heat thereto, passing the resulting vapor into a holder arranged above the still capable of holding at one time the greater portion of the contents of the still within which holder is maintained a cushion of condensed vapors into which the vapor from the cracked oil finds its way and through which a portion of the same passes to the condenser, while the remaining portion is arrested by the condensate in the holder and returns to the still to be revaporized.

2. The herein described process for the production of light hydrocarbons from heavy hydrocarbons, which consists in distilling the heavy hydrocarbons and maintaining a pressure on the vapors from the same by a condensate which is formed from said vapors and which represents at times approximately 50% of the material charged in the still, or in the still during the process of distillation, passing vapors through said condensate, and condensing the vapors which pass through the condensate.

3. In the art of treating hydrocarbon oils, the method which comprises maintaining a body of hydrocarbon liquid in a holder, vaporizing and cracking hydrocarbon oil in a still, conducting vapor from the still and discharging it into said hydrocarbon oil in the holder at a point below the surface of the oil therein, permitting the hot vapors to rise freely in the oil in said holder, thereby heating the last mentioned oil and at the same time condensing high boiling point fractions of the vapor, conducting vapor from the surface of the oil in the holder to a condenser and permitting the heated con-' to a condenser, consisting in first distilling and cracking the high boiling point oil in the still at substantially atmospheric pressure, passing the resulting vapor througha contracted passage into a holder arranged above the still, permitting the heavier portions of the vapor to condense in said holder and maintaining a strata of condensate in said holder into which the vapors from the 10 still find their Way and through which the lighter vapors from the still pass, while the heavier vapors are condensed, passing uncondensed vapors from the holder to said condenser and condensing the same therein to form hydrocarbon oil of low boiling points, and permitting condensate from the holder to flow back through the contracted passage While the vapors are rising-therethrou'gh.

' CHARLES RUSSELL BURKE. 

